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Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Shattered: Behind the Scenes by Tak Toyoshima

When I was contacted by the Secret Identities crew to contribute a story to their second graphic anthology, Shattered, I jumped at the chance. Then when they sent out a call to help with some inking chores I again jumped at the chance and got to ink a 10 page Shaolin monk vs. zombies story called Qi Lai!, pencilled by Dheeraj Verma and written by Roger Ma (Zombie Combat Manual). Then when the SI guys reached out to see if someone could help with the tail end production of the book to assist prepping files, paginating, tracking edits and sending it off to The New Press for final proofing I was all in.

Now, I don't write this to make you think, "Boy, those guys sure needed a lot of help! What a bunch of lazy drunks!" No, I wrote it to point out what a massive and coordinated undertaking it was to put this book together. To make a point that ALL the people who took part in this book did so on top of their already busy schedules and found the time to contribute because they understood the importance of this project and have a passion for not only sequential art but of the overall mission of Secret Identities. All this despite the fact that they actually are a bunch of drunks. Just not lazy ones.

My story, Occupy the Ethnic Food Aisle, is the touching story of a jar of Ah-So Chinese barbeque sauce struggling with its segregation from the rest of the "normal" food in the supermarket. As it questions why it can't be shelved next to other sauces and condiments like ketchup and mustard, it is challenged by the manipulative and opportunistic Nissin Cup-o-Noodles who holds a secret to Ah-So's past that ... well, you'll just have to pick up a copy of Shattered to find out.